Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Garfield share all about Tick Tick… Boom! in chat with Giles Terera

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Andrew Garfield have spilled on new musical movie Tick Tick… Boom! in a chat with Giles Terera.

West End star Terera sat down (virtually!) with Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and Olivier Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda and Academy Award nominee and Tony Award winner Andrew Garfield to talk about the new film, currently streaming on Netflix.

Written by RENT composer Jonathan Larson, the semi-autobiographical story follows an aspiring composer called Jon who is working as a waiter while attempting to break into musical theatre.

Directed by Miranda, the film stars Garfield as Jon alongside a stellar cast including Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp,, Robin de Jesus, Joshua Henry, Mj Rodriguez and Judith Light – plus more Broadway cameos than you can count.

In the chat – which you can watch in full below – Terera talks with Miranda and Garfield about bringing Larson’s work to screen.

Miranda shares: “I grew up loving musicals. My parents collected cast albums and I feel in love with being in the school play and doing the Spring musical but it never felt like I was allowed to write musicals until I saw RENT.

“It was the most contemporary score I’d heard, the most diverse cast I’d seen on a stage. It looked like the New York I actually live in.”

Citing Tick Tick… Boom! as a personal inspiration, Miranda continues: “That show said directly to me, ‘Are you okay with doing this if no one else ever notices that you’re doing?’ Because you have to be. You may spend your 20s writing a show no one wants to see. And you’ve got to be alright with that, doing it for the love of it.

“That was clarifying to me, terrifying but clarifying.”

Meanwhile Garfield discusses playing Jon: “The more I learned about Jon the more I realised I was being reintroduced to a long-lost brother I didn’t know I had. Like a real kindred spirit in art and life. For me, as soon as I started to understand who he was as an artist and human being, it was like I became haunted by him.

“His energy started to fill me up and wouldn’t let go of the scruff of my neck. It was like, If you’re going to do this, you’re going to have to let me do it through you'”

Tick, Tick… Boom! is streaming now on Netflix.